The Oxford dictionary describes spontaneous behavior as “performed or occurring as a result of a sudden inner impulse or inclination and without premeditation or external stimulus.” Now you know what I’m talking about.

My favorite spontaneity joke: Women say they like a man who is “funny” and “spontaneous.” But, you tap on their window late at night wearing a clown costume and suddenly it’s all screaming and throwing things and police sirens.”

This past Saturday afternoon, we got a text from our daughter which invited us to “a super last minute” “Birthday Hoedown.” It was the day after her birthday and a quick decision had been made to invite people to a Western dance and “hang-out” party in the front yard/driveway of their home in Lehi.

We happened to be in Provo already for the BYU football game (how about those Cougs?). So, it was easy for us to make the decision to attend the party.

Even though our plans were to come home to Sanpete right after the game, we take pride in our spontaneity. The decision was made that what else were the hours between midnight and 2 a.m. for, if not for preparing church talks for Sunday morning?

Even with really short notice, the party was well attended. At any one time, I’d guess that there were close to 20 people line dancing and swing dancing on the driveway. And there were at least that many relaxing around the fire or hanging out, eating and tapping their toes.

Once again, to me, the point was made that you can often get as good of a response with a “spur of the moment” invitation, as you can with a long advance notification. We’ve have often found that to be true when inviting friends to go to the movies or out to dinner.

I was proud of my daughter and son-in-law for their spontaneity. It carries on a tradition that has occurred in our family.

My wife is particularly good at spontaneity. For example, it happens fairly regularly that I’ll invite her to go to the movies when the movie starts in about the time it takes to get to the theater. More often than not, she’ll say, “I can have popcorn for dinner, let’s go!”

Our family has had a history of taking spontaneous trips. Sometimes we haven’t even known where we’re going. Our most famous expedition of this sort was a weekend trip to Disneyland.

We packed up and pulled up to Highway 89 after work on a Friday evening. We had to decide whether to go north or south. We went south. At each junction we made another decision. After driving through the night and taking a nap or two, we drove into Disneyland on Saturday morning.

(I read in a memoir book by Bill Bryson about his dad taking the family on a car trip to California when Bill was a kid. It was a surprise to the family when the dad drove into the Disneyland parking lot. Bill looked at his parents and asked, “Do I have leukemia?”)

After having a fun day in the amusement park (that my grandpa used to call “DizzyLand”), we “recharged our batteries” with a night’s sleep. On Sunday morning, we enjoyed a gourmet breakfast overlooking the ocean with food provided by that well-known and popular “Golden Arches Restaurant.” We then rode home and were back to work on Monday morning.

Call it “itchy feet,” “cabin fever,” or whatever, but there are times when the urge to travel or just get away simply hits. That trip we took was a memory maker, but I don’t recommend that method as your main way of taking vacations. That unplanned trip does demonstrate though what is possible when one is in that sort of a mood.

We had a similar trip 12 years ago where we ended up in Yellowstone National Park. We were “flying by the seat of our pants” – and didn’t have reservations anywhere on a Labor Day holiday weekend.

Our first nights were spent in Brigham City, Utah, and Afton, Wyoming. On Sunday afternoon, we stood by the famous Old Faithful geyser and saw it erupt. We then walked over to the Old Faithful Lodge.

I approached the registration desk. I asked the clerk if he would check to see if, by chance, there had been any cancellations anywhere in the park for a room for the night.

He looked at his computer and replied, “There’s a room available right now in the old historic Old Faithful Inn. Do you want it?” Perhaps a little too loudly, I gushed, “Yes!” He pressed the buttons on the computer and bang: Spontaneity won out again.

In regards to Yellowstone: One of the lodges in the park had a guest leave this “concern” on one of their feedback forms: “Our visit was wonderful, but we never saw any bears. Please train your bears to be where guests can see them. This was an expensive trip to not get to see bears.” (So much for allowing bears spontaneity.)

Be spontaneous Sanpete! Enjoy life! Do things “at the drop of a hat.” Throw a party. Invite the neighbors over. Make brownies and take them to someone. Bring some to me. (Oh, by the way – thanks to the neighbors for spontaneously bringing slices of chocolate pound cake to us this past Sunday. Yum!) — Merrill